Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is doubling down on open fronts and criticism. A report accuses him of endangering the forces when he sent messages to a group on a social media network containing confidential information about bombings in Yemen last spring, amid the so-called scandal. Signal gate. Meanwhile, suspicions persist that a war crime may have been committed in the double attack on a drug boat in the Caribbean, where the second strike killed the survivors of the first. The admiral to whom Hegseth attributes the decision testifies that he saw the door closed before Congress.
Moreover, while tension is growing over a possible attack by the United States on Venezuelan territory, the newspaper noted The Wall Street Journal It is published that Hegseth forced General Alvin Holsey to resign, in October, a month after the start of the campaign of attacks against Narcolancha. The four-star general’s departure took place last December, after just one year, which is unusual in the US armed forces, and raised eyebrows among experts and lawmakers given the military operation carried out by EE UU in the area under the control of Mandu Sur.
According to this newspaper, which cites statements by Pentagon commandos, Hegseth and Hulsey were shocked from the beginning, when he was newly appointed Secretary of Defense, and demanded that “when he receives an order, he moves quickly and does not ask questions.” But the relationship seemed to improve when he launched a campaign against Narcolancha. Hulsey “initially became concerned about questionable legal authority to attack ships,” the memoir says. He added that there was a time when Hegseth lost confidence in him and was looking for a replacement.
Report it Signal gateThe book, compiled over months by the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office, was published last July, but a copy was given to Hegseth himself and its contents were distributed to senators and congressmen at the Capitol in Washington, which is why he began to understand.
The document states that by using Signal, a commercial social network for communications and information exchange about an ongoing military operation, the Secretary of Defense risked revealing US military tactics and exposing US soldiers. But he does not accuse him of divulging confidential information, considering that the former Fox TV presenter has the authority to declassify the information he wants before sending it. The document does not provide an opinion on whether Hegseth’s descaling policy is adequate.
A second report complementing the first warns that the Pentagon lacks the US government’s own secure platform for sending messages and the ability to coordinate in real time, pushing senior officials to resort to commercial tools that do not meet the necessary security requirements.
The documents are the result of an investigation that lasted several months. The initiative began after last March, a journalist and director of Al-Taqaddiya magazine AtlanticJeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly included in a group on the encrypted Signal platform, where senior Trump administration officials exchanged information and comments about an operation to bomb Yemen. The journalist, who initially thought it was a kind of exoneration, revealed the group’s existence when he confirmed its authenticity and that the messages actually went to describe a real operation to bomb Houthi militia facilities in Yemen.
Nearby, called in “a small group of senior officials over the Hotties,” the Pentagon chief and other senior officials — including figures in the conversation such as the Vice President, J.D. Vance, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, or Secretary of State Marco Rubio — relayed various details about the operation. Hours before the bombing, on March 15, Hegseth sent a program with expected flight and attack times.
The revelation cost the job of then National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who erred in including Goldberg in the group. At the beginning of the fall, Waltz proposed the position of ambassador to the United Nations, a position for which he was confirmed in the summer, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been covering his role as coordinator of American foreign policy since then.
In the face of the scandal, party legislators called on the Inspector General of the Pentagon, who is responsible for ensuring that this ministry complies with its internal rules, who will examine the issue. In April, the Inspector General announced the opening of an investigation. That same month, it emerged that Hegseth had shared sensitive information in a second conversation, involving his wife and brother.
The Defense Minister’s team celebrated the result as an announcement of the innocence of its boss. “The report represents a complete vindication of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew: that classified information was not shared,” says Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. “The matter has been resolved and the case closed.”
During the investigation, Hegseth refused to give verbal evidence and merely provided a written statement. The Secretary of Defense also contributed more than a handful of the comments he posted to the group, which is why experts relied primarily on the material he posted. Atlantic.
The report is published as the head of the Pentagon finds himself stranded in the middle of the day on September 2 during the first attacks committed by US forces against alleged drug dealers in the Caribbean. In that attack they killed people once, and the Trump administration announced that there were no survivors. But periodic The Washington Post The week reported that after the first explosion, the survivors fell clinging to the remains of the ship. The memoirs also state that Hegseth gave a verbal order to kill them all. The second strike wiped out the survivors.
The committees responsible for the armed forces in the United States Senate and House of Representatives intend to conduct investigations into these crimes, which could constitute a war crime. The Marina Manual on War Conduct specifically mentions the assumption of an order to kill survivors in the water as an example of an illegal order that subordinates must disobey.
The administration rallied around Hegseth in this case, led by President Trump himself, and attributed the decision of the second coup to the Commander of the Special Operations Forces, Admiral Frank Bradley, who acted “within his authority” to order him. Casablanca spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt confirmed that Bradley issued the order “in self-defense.” According to the newspaper, the order considered that survivors could still attempt to complete their journey or request rescue from others.
The Minister of Defense confirmed, in statements during a cabinet meeting in Casablanca, that he was present that day in the Pentagon room from which the operation took place, but he went after the first coup to participate in a meeting. He also confirmed that he had not seen survivors of “war blame,” referring to the cloud of octopus, rubble, and chaos that arises in combat.
Trump indicated the possibility of declassifying the entire video sequence about the incident: “Not if that’s what’s out there, but if that’s what’s out there, we’ll probably release it, no problem.”